1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an operating panel device for an elevator system, and more particularly, to an improvement in such an operating panel device in which operation switches on an operator panel are formed of photoelectric means.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has hitherto been known a conventional operating panel device for an elevator system which is disclosed in a Japanese Utility Model Application laid-open No. 59-33872 and which is illustrated in FIGS. 7 through 10. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an elevator car seen in the direction from a car's interior toward an elevator hall; FIG. 8 is a schematic cross sectional view of an elevator car taken along the line VIII--VIII in FIG. 7; FIG. 9 is an enlarged front elevational view of a portion of an elevator car surrounded by a dotted line A in FIG. 7; and FIG. 10 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken along the line X--X in FIG. 9.
In FIG. 7, there is shown an elevator car 1 which includes a ceiling 2, side walls 3, a floor 4 and a car door 5 at a doorway 3d. The elevator car 1 also has a front or door-side wall 3a on which a conventional operating panel device 6 is installed.
In general, as clearly seen from FIG. 9, the operating panel device 6 has on its front panel 3a a variety of buttons including, for example, call buttons 6a for registering destination floors a door opening button 6b for intentionally opening the car door 5 or holding the car door 5 open for a longer duration than usual, a door closing button 6c for intentionally closing the car door 5 for an early start when a passenger gets in the elevator car 1, and an interphone button 6d for enabling a passenger in a closed elevator car 1 to communicate with the outside during emergencies such as when elevator car 1 has not landed at a normal floor due to a malfunction and the car door 5 is closed.
As illustrated in FIG. 10, mounted on the back side of a front panel 6e of the operating panel device 6 are switch units 7 which are adapted to be actuated by depression of the above-described various buttons and which are housed in a switch box or housing 8.
In this manner, the conventional operating panel device 6, including the various buttons 6a to 6d, the switch units 7, the switch housing 8 and the like, is usually installed on the front or door-side panel 3a adjacent the doorway 3d so that passengers in the elevator car 1 can operate the elevator system by means of the buttons 6a to 6d on the operating panel device 6.
With the conventional operating panel device 6 as constructed above, however, as shown in FIG. 10, the switch housing 8 requires a depth l of about several tens of millimeters so as to accommodate the switch units 7, as a consequence of which the door-side wall 3a of the elevator car 3, on which the operating panel device 6 is installed, must have a space h for receiving the switch housing 8, as illustrated in FIG. 8. On the other hand, if the operating panel device 6 is mounted on the side walls 3b or the rear wall 3c of the elevator car 1 having only a limited available space, there will be an undesirable interference thereof with other component members or devices of the elevator system.
In addition, the above-described switch buttons are mechanically operated so that there will be considerable wear and/or fatigue on the mechanical portions thereof after a long period of use, thus resulting in relatively short lifetimes for the switches. Moreover, there are certain restrictions and/or difficulties involved in taking effective measures for protecting the operating panel device from vandalism by thoughtless passengers such as drunks or some children.